Epic

The Epics are a group of magical beings on Earth. They start appearing around the same time as the satellite Calamity. Every Epic has a weakness that invalidates their powers. When Epics gain their powers, they go through a period called the Rending, where they feel an overwhelming urge to destroy. [1] When Epics die, mitochondrial mutation occurs in their bodies.[Citation needed] When an Epic uses their powers, it corrupts them and turns them evil unless they can overcome their greatest fear.

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High Epics are Epics that have a prime invincibility. A prime invincibility is a power that makes conventional assassination methods useless. Some examples are regeneration, impervious skin, precognition, and self-reincarnation.

Firefight is a member of Steelheart's elite three and his bodyguard. He is supposed to be a Fire Epic. David figured out that he is actually an illusion created by the real "Firefight" who's power is later revealed to actually be bringing different realities into the one he is in. i.e., Firefight being a fire-based epic in a different dimension, and the Firefight in the book bringing a shadow of that alternate reality into his own dimension. Firefight was revealed to be Megan Tarash. She has reincarnation powers. Her weakness is fire, meaning if she is killed by fire, she will not reincarnate.

Fortuity has precognition powers. He can sense the future and danger. He also has secondary superhuman reflexes and dexterity. He was a moderately high-ranking Epic. He had a long face and hawkish nose. His weakness is that his danger sense is weakened if he is attracted to you. He was killed by Megan, she killed him by shooting at both sides of Fortuity while he was in the air.

Mitosis, or Lawrence Robert, was able to make exact copies of himself. He split into two, each clone able to replicate itself. There is not a known limit of how many copies of himself he could make. If any copies of Mitosis exist, then he can still live. All the clones are connected and if one is killed they all know it. They can't share memories until they recombine. It was thought that the more copies that were made, the dumber they would get. That was proved false. When a copy was killed, the corpses decomposed into goo. The more clones that were created, the weaker their molecular structure holds together. Music from his old band, Weaponized Cupcakes, was his weakness and caused his copies to disintegrate. As of now, his power is assumed to be unique by the Reckoners. Mitosis came from Babylon Restored, while Prof and Cody had been in Babilar, a part of Babylon Restored, to find David and learn how Steelheart was killed. He was, before Calamity, part of an old rock group, Weaponized Cupcakes.

Serves Regalia. Has a secondary power of increased speed. Unknown if she has a primary power, or if increased speed is her only one (which would make it her primary ability). Primary invincibility granted by protective fields which reflect any impact with equal force. As shown, this ability could also be used in a way that increased speed of transport, as when she jumps from building to building, the field bounces her back up, allowing for facilitated transport.

Nightwielder is a member of Steelheart's elite three. Nightwielder causes perpetual darkness. He is a physically shadowy figure with an incorporeal form. He can move through solid objects and control darkness. He is immune to gunfire or any type of weapon. He can control the mist of darkness he creates and solidify it. UV waves weaken him and make him corporeal. He has Asian features and black shoulder-length hair. The smell of phosphorous is a sign of him using his powers. He rarely speaks during business interactions.

Serves Regalia. Obliteration is a high epic described as wearing a long, black trench coat, spectacles, and having a goatee. Obliteration's primary power is absorbing heat from sunlight or objects (living or inanimate.) He then stores this heat and is able to release it in a powerful burst. An example of him using this power is when he reportedly sat bare chested in the middle of the city of Houston for several days storing energy. He then proceeded to destroy the entire city by releasing all the heat at once in a single burst. A secondary power is enhanced strength. Has a danger sense, which causes him to instantly teleport. Frequently recites scripture, considering himself one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Unknown weakness.

Jonathan Phaedrus, otherwise known as Prof, was revealed to be an Epic in Steelheart. He has two defensive abilities, both of which alone would classify him as High Epic. The first ability is regeneration, which allows rapid healing of any wound. The second defensive ability is forcefields, which can be formed at seemingly any size, and could have size regulated once already formed. The forcefields are impenetrable to anything, and can also be used to fly when stood on. His final ability is an offensive power, which allows him to dissolve and tunnel into solid objects. Prof is a Gifter epic, and as a result can lend his abilities to Reckoners, which he disguises as technologies which he has created. Also known as Limelight.

Real name was Emiline Bask. Killed by the Reckoners after she was sent to Newcago by Regalia in an attempt to draw Prof to Babylon Restored. Had the ability to control electricity. Surrounded by an aura of electricity which dissolved any bullet that would under other circumstances impact.

Steelheart is described as having an inhumanly large and strong chest. He was nearly seven feet tall with jet-black hair. He is impervious to bullets and other weapons. He can release yellow-white energy from his hand that vaporizes. When he is angry, he can transform inanimate things around him into steel. This does not affect living things. He has incredible strength, can command the winds, and fly with perfect control. He has a perfect memory. His weakness was that he could only be killed by someone who didn't fear him.

Conflux is a member of Steelheart's elite three. Very little was known about Conflux. He was supposed to run Enforcement. He is a "gifter" or a transference Epic. He can give two of his powers to others. He isn't known to have any immortality powers. One of his powers is that he can create enormous stores of energy from his body. Conflux is used to power Newcago's electricity. His real name is Edmund Sense. He is an old Indian man. He was held captive by Steelheart to use his powers to power the city. He was used as a battery. He was first captured by an Epic named Bastion a month after Conflux's change. He was sold to an Epic named Insulation next. He accidentally killed his wife while trying to power the microwave.

Deathpoint is a known Epic that was killed by David's father on the Day of Annexation. He had the ability to disintegrate living things by pointing at them, though their bones where always left unharmed. Worn items (like a holstered gun or a swaddling blanket) also appear to be unaffected. He was tall and lean, but solid. He was muscled and toned in a way that could be seen through his clothes. He is also speculated to have a second ability, one that was never shown, but appears to require physical contact and can be assumed to be more powerful than his first, as he attempts to use it on Steelheart despite his first being ineffective.

Faultline had the power to move the earth. She worked for Steelheart, but later rebelled against him, lost, and was murdered. She had two second-tier abilities--moving softer earth and turning earth and stone into sand--which combined into her first-tier ability to create apparent earthquakes with great control. She would soften the ground and then pulling that earth back to form a crack in the earth. She was powerful, but fragile. While her first-tier power classifies her as a first-tier Epic under Tia's system, her lack of a Prime Invincibility excludes her from the list of High Epics.[3]

Knoxx is a lesser Epic created by Regalia and Calamity. He was stated to have not had powers for years after Calamity rose up, and seemed to have recently obtained his powers in the book Firefight. He is a minor Transformation Epic, with his known transformations being a pigeon and a large black dog.

Refractionary is a class C illusionist Epic with class B personal invisibility powers. She skilled and able to create pretty complex visual manifestations. She is not very powerful and her illusions usually shimmer as if light is reflecting off of them. Her weakness is smoke. Megan shot her when David called Refractionary's mobile, causing her to vibrate.

Puños is said to have enhanced strength and durability. Val killed him by shooting him with a damaged tank before the events of the Steelheart series. It is mentioned that although he has increased durability, he is not a high epic and can be killed by any powerful means (such as a tank).

Lesser illusionists sometimes have trouble maintaining an exact illusion. Illusionists can't see if they turn themselves completely invisible. Light still needs to strike their irises. A skilled illusionist can make their eyes match the color of their surroundings. A powerful Illusionist can create sounds along with their images.

There are two types of illusionists: mental illusionists and photon-manipulators.

Photon-manipulators create actual changes in the way light behaves, crafting illusions with photons. They are similar to electricity-manipulation Epics.

Mental illusionists affect the brains of other people around them. They create hallucinations, not true illusions. They are similar to other mentalists.

Mentalists

Hypnotists

Mind-Control

Transference Epics

Transference Epics can give others their powers. These Epics are also known as 'gifters.'[7]

Power duality is when an Epic has two second-tier abilities that meld into a first-tier one. An example of this would be the epic Faultline. Faultline actually had two separate abilities regarding shifting earth, but combined both of them to have the power to make the ground loose, push objects into it, and re-solidify the ground.

An Epic's Weakness can be just about anything. Some epics, upon seeing a specific pattern or symbol, lose their powers for a few moments. Some become weak when they think certain thoughts, stop eating certain foods, or eating the wrong food. Specific numbers can make an Epic weak as well. The weaknesses are tied to the person's history, and is actually their greatest fear. If the Epic can overcome that fear, the insanity caused by Calamity's influence is dissipated, allowing them to keep the powers but also their original, untainted personality.